Between The Lines: a Missing Moments Fic
by InsomniacChocoholic
Summary: Ron left Harry and Hermione due to their lack of progress in Finding the Horcruxes. This is his side to the story.
1. Leaving

**A/N: Review and tell me what you think! By the way this starts right after they overhear the conversation between Griphook, Gornhuk, Ted Tonks, Dirk Cresswell, and Dean Thomas, and after Phineas Nigellus tells them about the sword in Snape's office. That's in Chapter 15 of DH - The Goblin's Revenge.**

**Disclaimer – thank you JKR for the basic storyline. I'm just expanding… also all dialogue is taken from chapter 15.**

Ron was pissed. Pissed and annoyed and irritated and every other word that meant pissed in the bloody dictionary.

Harry and Hermione were excited that sword in Snape's office was a fake. That was great and all, but that didn't mean they were any closer to finding the real one to destroy the stupid locket with.

The locket around his neck right now, cold as ice, ticking beside his own heart…

"What do you reckon, Ron? Ron?" Harry was looking all around as if he'd forgotten where Ron was.

_Of course, they have,_ thought Ron bitterly. Aloud he said, "Oh, remembered me, have you?"

"What?" asked Harry, completely bewildered.

Staring up at the underside of his bunk, Ron snorted. "You two carry on. Don't let me spoil your fun."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other, as if for help.

_They always look to each other these days_, thought Ron,_ I don't exist anymore._

"What's the problem?" asked Harry.

"Problem? There's no problem. Not according to you, anyway."

"Well, you obviously got a problem," said Harry, "Spit it out, will you?"

"All right, I'll spit it out," said Ron, getting angrier by the second. "Don't expect me to skip up and down the tent because there's some other damn thing we've got to find. Just add it to the list of stuff you don't know."

"I don't know?" echoed Harry. "_I_ don't know?"

The rain, falling more heavily on the top of the tent, seemed even louder in the momentary silence. Ron decided it was time to stop pretending to go along with the charade; to say what he'd been thinking ever since they left Grimmauld Place.

"It's not like I'm not having the time of my life here," he said sarcastically, "you know, with my arm all mangled and nothing to eat and freezing my backside off every night. I just hoped, you know, after we'd been running round a few weeks, we'd have achieved something."

"Ron," said Hermione quietly who'd been silent up until now. Ron ignored her and faced Harry.

"I thought you knew what you'd signed up for," said Harry.

"Yeah, I thought I did too," retorted Ron.

"So what part of it isn't living up to your expectations?" asked Harry, sounding betrayed. "Did you think we'd be staying in five star hotels? Finding a Horcrux every other day? Did you think you'd be back to mummy by Christmas?"

"We thought you knew what you were doing!" yelled Ron, standing up and hurling his anger and frustration at Harry with each word. "We thought Dumbledore had told you what to do, we thought you had a real plan!"

"Ron!" interrupted Hermione again, louder this time, but again he ignored her.

"Well, sorry to let you down," said Harry in a calm voice which Ron knew well; it meant the calm before the storm. "I've been straight with you from the start, I told you everything Dumbledore told me. And in case you haven't noticed, we've found one Horcrux-"

"Yeah, and we're about as near getting rid of it as we are to finding the rest of them – nowhere effing near, in other words!" shouted Ron.

"Take off the locket Ron," pleaded Hermione in a high, worried voice. "Please take it off. You wouldn't be talking like this if you hadn't been wearing it all day."

"Yeah, he would," said Harry. "D'you think I haven't noticed the two off you whispering behind my back? D'you think I didn't guess you were thinking this stuff?"

"Harry, we weren't-" began Hermione but Ron cut her off.

"Don't lie!" he yelled at her, furious that she was trying to make Harry happy and not him. "You said it too, you said you were disappointed, you said you'd thought he had a bit more to go on than-"

"I didn't say it like that - -Harry, I didn't!" cried Hermione, tears rolling down her cheeks. Ron felt a tiny prick of remorse in his chest for making her cry, but buried it in his anger.

"So why are you still here?" Harry asked Ron.

"Search me!" said Ron.

"Go on home, then," said Harry.

"Yeah, maybe I will!" shouted Ron taking a few steps forward to get in Harry's face.

"Didn't you hear what they said about my sister? But you don't give a rat's fart, do you, it's only the Forbidden Forest, Harry I've-Faced-Worse Potter doesn't care what happens to her in there, well, I do, all right, giant spiders and mental stuff-"

"I was only saying – she was with the others, they were with Hagrid –"

"- yeah, I get it, you don't care! And what about the rest of my family, 'the Weasleys don't need another kid injured', did you hear that?"

"Yeah, I – "

"Not bothered what it meant, though?"

"Ron!" Hermione said, pushing in between them, "I don't think it means anything new has happened, anything we don't know about, think, Ron, Bill's already scarred, plenty of people must have seen that George has lost an ear by now, and you're supposed to be on your deathbed with spattergroit, I'm sure that's all he meant – "

"Oh, you're sure, are you?" said Ron, breathing hard. "Right, then, well, I won't bother myself about them. It's all right for you two, isn't it, with your parents safely out of the way-"

"My parents are dead!" shouted Harry; Ron could see the hurt in his eyes, and felt a kind of savage pleasure mixed with guilt at hurting him, but it didn't drown out his own worry.

"And mine could be going the same way!"

"Then GO!" shouted Harry madly. "Go back to them, pretend you've got over your spattergroit and Mummy'll be able to feed you up and – "

Furious, Ron drew his wand, saw Harry do the same, but before he could do more than point his wand at Harry –

"Protego!" screamed Hermione; so strong was the shield that they all were pushed back and could not reach each other. However, that didn't stop Ron from giving Harry the most hateful glare he could, and he could tell Harry was doing the same. The time Ron had been jealous of Harry in fourth year about the Triwizard tournament didn't compare to the hatred he felt now.

"Leave the Horcrux," Harry snarled. Ron pulled it over his head and threw it on a chair.

He then looked at Hermione. "What are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you staying, or what?" he demanded.

"I – yes – yes, I'm staying," she stuttered, looking distressed. "Ron, we said we'd go with Harry, we said we'd help-"

"I get it. You choose him." Ron turned to storm out of the tent. He could hear her calling after him, but he ignored the impulse to run back. Not caring where he went as long as it was away from here, he turned on the spot and disappeared into the darkness.

**Review! If you get bored between updates go check out my other story, The Ten Things I Hate Most, a Rose/Scorpius fic!**

**~Meg xx**


	2. Snatchers

**Disclaimer: the most fabulous and creative lady in the world, Joanne Rowling, wrote the plot. I just fill in the gaps.**

* * *

Ron landed at the edge of a riverbank…well, to be honest, he wasn't really sure where. All he knew was that it was pitch black and he was wet, tired and cold. The rain had yet to cease, which had surprised the young adult, for it was raining as hard and relentless as it was when he had left Harry and Hermione.

Harry and Hermione… Their names triggered a strong feeling of guilt inside him, and he bowed his head in shame as he recalled exactly what had just happened. Why had he left them? Why had he been so stupid? He let his temper get the best of him, and that wasn't even all. He'd said some really hateful things to Harry, and even made Hermione cry. He never did anything as bad as that. The worst part was he hadn't cared about it. He definitely did now, which led him to wonder why he had lost control. Ron believed it was that bloody Horcrux. He vowed to find Gryffindor's real sword, the one impregnated with Basilisk venom, and destroy it as soon as possible.

Ron pulled out his wand and whispered, "Lumos!" He squinted through the rain to see something dangling in front of his face. Squinting some more, Ron finally recognized that dark and terrifying shape. It was a spider. He froze for a second in silent horror. It was limp and motionless but Ron was worried about the fact that it was the size of his hand. Trying to slowly back away from it, he accidentally stepped on a branch. The snapping sound echoed and the spider, now awake, began to swing ominously towards him. Ron stumbled backwards through a clump of bushes - and suddenly found himself surrounded by five men who'd been whispering amongst each other quietly enough that he couldn't hear them through the endless pattering of the rain.

They looked (and smelled) like they hadn't washed for months. With a faint hint of stubble on their chins, their tattered robes and yellowed teeth, that showed through their leering mouths, made him feel rather uncomfortable, to say the least..

A tall, gaunt man broke the surprised silence. "Oi! 'Oo's this we got 'ere?"

"Dunno," shrugged a shorter man, grabbing Ron's wand. "Looks like 'e could be school age though, don't 'e?"

"You!" said the tall one, who seemed to be the leader. "Tell us 'oo you are."

"Make it quick," said one with a particularly unpleasant stink wafting from his robes as he prodded Ron in the back with his wand.

"I, er..." said Ron, frightened. His brain seemed to be numb with fear like his first time on the Knight Bus. The Knight Bus...

"Stan Shunpike!" he exclaimed, trying to cover up his intense fear.

"Stan Shunpike?" said the short man, squinting at him. "Could be..."

"Bloody fool!" hissed the leader. "Stan is on the Dark Lord's side. Why would 'e be on the run?"

"'E could be running from the Ministry," argued the short one, "'E broke out from Azkaban, ain't that right?"

The stinky one rolled his eyes. "Mate, the Ministry is His now."

"I still say 'e's Stan an' we can get some gold by handing 'im over to the Ministry," said the short one stubbornly. Another man joined in. "Alright, and along with the gold, you can get a life sentence." He took Ron's wand and examined it.

"What d'you take me for, a brainless worm?" screeched the short man.

"Well..." said Stinky, rolling his eyes.

Screaming something Hermione would have tsked at, the short man launched himself at the stinky one. The leader was trying to separate them. Suddenly, Ron saw his opening. He wheeled around and punched the fifth man (who had been quiet till now) in the stomach. The man dropped his wand, which Ron grabbed.

"Expelliarmus!" he shouted, pointing the wand at the man who had his. His wand flew into the air and Ron caught it.

"The forest we were camping," he whispered and thought desperately, and turned on the spot to disappear into the darkness for the second time that night.

* * *

**A/N: so I know a lot of you want me to update my other story, but I've gotten to the point where my updating has caught up with my writing! Sorry guys, it could be a while! But it is NOT abandoned for sure. If you havent seen my other story, Ten Things I Hate Most, go ahead and read it while you wait for me to update this one! and be sure to leave a review!**

**~Livelaughlove2597 xx**


End file.
